I am not really sure if this is the right forum for my question.
I am a web designer and have noticed that the web design industry is saturated, I was wondering whether it is better to become an expert in a specific market/industry (eg hotels/apartments) versus a jack of all trades (designing for everyone) & which is better for making more money.
I am finding it very frustrating as I don’t know where to start the market research to see which industry/market people will be willing to pay for my services.
I would be very appreciative if someone could point me in the right direction.
I don’t believe that the market is already saturated. Web designing services is one of the most lucrative businesses online. There are hundreds of thousands websites out there that needs to be designed, and hundreds of new websites are coming out every single day.
I also disagree that the market is saturated, sure there’s a lot of professionals out there but if you do your research, market yourself appropriately (with a good portfolio and some word of mouth) you can easily find a niche for yourself. Most often, the people who claim that they are unable to find work are simply those who aren’t looking hard enough (or expect people to suddenly come to them). Whether you’re a jack of all trades or a specialist, the they thing you need to focus on is deciding what solutions you want to provide and then go out thee and seek out the clients who are looking for someone good.
I completely disagree with your point on saturation of website designing services.Still it is one of the best field until & unless you are professional in this field. Your experience & quality of work will let you earn from pennies to $$$.
You can expand your expertise from web designing to web marketing, they both go hand in hand, obviously if website is designed it needs to be promoted.
So I would suggest you to try in Search Marketing field.
Ok, so maybe things aren’t quite saturated, but with everyone and their cousin offering webdesign services and firms like Quicken advertising on TV and Costco even offering web design (at least in the US anyhow) maybe flooded is a better word?
In any event, there’s tons of competition and I think you’re wise to consider focusing on a specific niche and choosing a market carefully, however I know it’s tough when just getting started and I don’t see anything wrong with focusing on your immediate area and designing websites for businesses within your city to get your business off then ground.
Once you have a few jobs under your belt referrals will come easier, and I think there are benefits to focusing on a niche like deciding to work with restaurants or dentists only (I’m not saying those 2 are good niches to target - just throwing them out as examples). Of course if you search for designers for just about any industry you’ll find many established companies out there, but it’s certainly possible to compete with them if you can set yourself apart from them in some way.
Sorry if I said that it is saturated, what I meant to say was that there are a lot of people doing it, like most professions, you just have to to have a usp. On another point I haven’t done much market research and am at a loss as to where to start.
